Biden’s border ‘insurrection’, Harvard’s long post-Claudine Gay recovery and other commentary

Conservative: Biden’s Border ‘Insurrection’

“Despite all the dishonest talk of ‘insurrection’ coming from the left, it is Joe Biden’s open borders agenda that amounts to the greatest insurrection since the Civil War — and with every passing day, it continues to imperil our safety, our culture, and our national security,” fumes Aaron Flanigan at the Association of Mature American Citizens. Per early reports, “December was the worst month on record for illegal immigration, with more than 300,000 border crossings — capping off . . . the worst year on record in 2023.” “Biden is now facing criticism from both parties with the 2024 election looming — although the media has remained shamefully silent.” “Despite inheriting the most secure border on record . . . Biden single-handedly and deliberately created the conditions for a crisis of previously unimaginable proportions.”

Econ watch: Debt’s Worse Than It Looks

The “federal debt ratio of approximately 120 percent of GDP” is “mismatched,” argues Andrew Liang at The Boston Globe. A better measure is “the government’s debt to the government’s own income — federal revenue, nearly all of which comes from taxes.” That metric shows debt is “750 percent of annual federal revenue,” laying bare “the extent to which the situation is out of hand.” And “using federal revenue, the debt ratio has actually increased by close to 400 percentage points” since 2005. “As Congress contemplates setting up a fiscal commission to focus on this issue, a critical first step should be the replacement of the debt-to-GDP framework with debt-to-federal revenue. The starting point for any discussions should be the use of the right yardstick.”

Ed desk: Harvard’s Long Post-Gay Recovery

Ousted Harvard President Claudine Gay’s letter of resignation “deserves close reading,” scoffs Peter W. Wood at The Spectator. “The first, not entirely cynical reaction is: did she write it herself?” Another question: Why wouldn’t Harvard “unload a dishonest, serial plagiarist, whose record of scholarship would embarrass a cooked lobster?” And “why, oh why, Harvard Corporation, did it take this long to figure out the incalculable damage this pseudo-scholar and race-baiting activist was doing to Harvard’s reputation?” “Gay, we can be sure, will land on her feet” and “play a part in politics after a due period of reputational rehabilitation. Harvard may have to wait longer.” That’s “cause for lamentation for those of us who took pride in [a] once great institution.”